Allegations of Sexual Abuse
	Police Rape Allegations - Index From April 2005
	One News July 26 2005 Nicholas rape case to go to trial Source: RNZ Louise Nicholas The three men accused of raping Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas will stand trial. The Rotorua District Court has sent Auckland police assistant commissioner Clint Rickards and former police officers Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum to trial. The men deny charges of raping, sexually violating and indecently assaulting Nicholas in 1985 and 1986. On Tuesday Lawyers for the Crown handed up nearly 40 written statements made by witnesses including one by Nicholas herself. In a written statement presented to Rotorua District Court, Nicholas described how Shipton and Rickards visited her home on a number of occasions to have sex without her consent. She said her heart would drop every time they turned up because she knew what they wanted. She also described an occasion in 1986 when she was sexually assaulted by all three men. Some charges remain suppressed as does the identity and evidence of some witnesses. Defence lawyer John Haigh QC accepted there was a case to answer but says the Crown's case against Rickards is built on straw.